Regenerate Outcomes is proud to announce a new collaboration with Woolkeepers, a pioneering initiative committed to transforming the future for British wool growers by championing responsible, ethical farming and offering farmers fair, stable pricing beyond the volatility of traditional auction markets.

This partnership marks an important step in advancing a more resilient and transparent future for British agriculture, combining Regenerate Outcomes’ farmer-led approach to soil health with Woolkeepers’ growing community of over 1,000 farmers committed to responsible land stewardship.

Farmers are in the unique position of being able to remove carbon from the atmosphere by building soil organic matter.

This represents an opportunity to generate revenue by selling carbon credits.

In this article, our Chief Scientific Officer, Matt Jordon, answers some of the common questions farmers have about the carbon market.

“The old saying goes that ‘turnover is vanity, profit is sanity’ and this is just as true in farming as any other business. With so many farmers living on such tight margins, a sudden spike in overheads can soon begin to whittle away profits, with all the headaches and stress that brings.

“For those who are heavily dependent on bought-in inputs, such as fertiliser and diesel, global events that are out of your control can suddenly mean the difference between being in the red or the black.

“The good news is that it is possible to reduce this dependence by adopting regenerative principles to improve soil health.”

“I like the fact that the mentoring Regenerate Outcomes are offering is based on farmers helping farmers, whereas the UK agriculture advice industry is very much led by suppliers.

“Those who sell you feed will tell you how much you need feed and those who sell fertiliser will tell you you need fertiliser. “It’s good to bring some independence back to that and empower farmers to make decisions for themselves.

“A lot of farmers just run on prescriptions but it’s good to bring back the profession of agriculture and enable them to make decisions for themselves.”

In the final recording for Grounded ‘Live’, Kyle Richardville and Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, discussed some of the myths and misconceptions about regenerative practices with two farmers who have adopted them in their system.

They were joined by James Johnson, from Mallard Grange, near Ripon, and Matt Griffin, farm manager at Neidpath Farms, in the Scottish Borders.

Together they discussed the process of change, resilience, profit, fencing, water infrastructure, managing relationships and much more.

“Carbon has been talked about in such a negative way in farming for a long time, with farmers being told that livestock can only be bad for the environment.

“It is really exciting to be able to present them with an opportunity which will help their businesses, demonstrate they are having a positive impact and generate revenue at the same time.

“I see my job at Regenerate Outcomes as helping people understand what we do and the space we work in.”

No-till is one of the key principles of regenerative agriculture in an arable context. However, minimising ploughing is rarely enough to build soil health, resilience and carbon on its own.

In our latest recording for Grounded ‘Live’, soil microbiologist Kyle Richardville and beef, sheep and arable farmer Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, were joined by an expert panel to discuss regenerative techniques and practices in arable.

The conversation covered everything including equipment, cover cropping, yield versus profit and advice for beginning to make changes on your own farm.

In January’s recording for Grounded ‘Live’ we brought together a panel of Regenerate Outcomes member farmers to discuss machinery and equipment used to implement regenerative practices.

Kyle Richardville and Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, were joined by Verity Megginson, who farms arable and sheep in East Yorkshire, cattle, sheep and arable farmer Tom Fairfax, from Northumberland, and Rhy Jones, who manages an arable farm near Cambridge.

The conversation covered everything from electric fencing, solar energisers and water infrastructure to pumps, tree guards, direct drillers, bale unwinders and more.

In the latest episode of Grounded ‘Live’, our panel discussed experiences, successes and lessons learned from making the transition to using regenerative practices.

Hosts Kyle Richardville and Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, were joined by Regenerate Outcomes members Graham Rutherford and Llian and Sian Jones, as well as Amy Hughes of Empower Ag.

Together they shared their stories of making changes to reduce inputs and improve soil health.

“I first heard about Regenerate Outcomes through one of the grazing groups I am a member of and it appealed to me to get some mentoring alongside the opportunity to baseline and measure our soil carbon.

“When you get started with this type of farming there is no handbook to tell you how to do everything, but sometimes you’ve just got to try things and make mistakes and learn.

“It can make a big difference to have someone to talk to and ask questions as you go through that process.”

In the latest recording for Grounded ‘Live’ hosts Stuart Johnson and Kyle Richardville, from our mentoring team, spoke with farm vet Lee-Anne Oliver and Northumberland farmer Shaun Maw about the link between soil health and animal performance.

Lee-Anne, who is based in Hexham, recently founded consultancy Ruminant Revival, which focuses on reducing chemical and pharmaceutical inputs for livestock.

Lee-Anne says: “We are rapidly facing a big problem, in the veterinary and agriculture industry, that these products are difficult to get hold of, they cost a lot of money, resistance is growing to a lot of them and the consumers do not want them in their food.”

“Soil wasn’t something I worried about for most of my farming life.

“After experimenting with strip tillage about 13 years ago, I began to see it as the primary resource on any farm, and both the fundamental cause - and ultimate solution - to so many of the issues we face.

“Looking after your soil means looking after your bottom line, your crops and livestock, and ultimately yourself.

“As farmers, we can’t afford to see our primary resource washed or blown away. By improving soil health, we start to see real gains in resilience, profitability and time management.”

In the first episode of our Grounded ‘Live’ sessions, we brought together an expert panel to discuss soil carbon baselines and everything you need to know about generating income from your soil.

Regular Grounded hosts Kyle Richardville and farmer Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, were joined by Regenerate Outcomes Chief Scientific Officer Matt Jordon and Director Tom Dillon.

In addition, they were also joined by Luke Baldwin, CEO of Nature Broking, and Wiltshire farmer George Hosier, who is also a member of our mentoring team.

Regenerate Outcomes is working alongside the University of Oxford to support a study to identify the effects of adaptive multi-paddock grazing (AMP) on soil biodiversity.

PhD student Max Hadoke has taken samples from plots on 12 farms which are part of Regenerate Outcomes to compare earthworm populations in set-stocked and AMP grazed fields. 

His studies are being funded through the Natural Environment Research Council by a doctoral training partnership in Oxford.

Regenerate Outcomes have committed three years of funding as his Collaborative Award in Science and Engineering partner.

Regenerate Outcomes is committed to maximising value for farmers by building soil health.

As well as improving crop and livestock performance, reducing inputs, cutting costs and growing profits, this value also comes from providing high integrity soil carbon baselining and measurement.

The more robust the baselining and measurement process, the higher the value of the carbon credits you can generate.

This is why we work with Agricarbon, who combine thorough physical soil sampling with state-of-the-art laboratory analysis to meet the internationally recognised Verified Carbon Standard.

This autumn and winter, Regenerate Outcomes is excited to invite you to Grounded 'Live', a series of live, online discussions bringing farmers together to dig deeper into regenerative agriculture.

Join 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year Stuart Johnson and soil microbiologist Kyle Richardville - from our mentoring team - as they invite guests to share their knowledge and advice.

For the first time, you’ll be able to hear Stuart and Kyle’s conversations live and ask questions as they speak with their guests.

Nikki and James Yoxall produce beef on the 3000ha Rottal Estate, in the Angus Glens, on the edge of the Cairngorm National Park. The farm is organic and they are Pasture for Life certified.

The estate is owned by Dee Ward, who has been undertaking a number of wildlife and biodiversity restoration and conservation activities over the last 20 years.

Topography at Rottal varies from 700ft up to as much as 3000ft and is primarily made up of heather moorland. It also comprises 200ha of trees and 100ha of low ground grazing.

Alongside farming, enterprises on the estate include holiday cottages, a wedding venue, a hydroelectric scheme, deer stalking and hosting walked-up shooting.

In this article, Northumberland beef and sheep farmer and Regenerate Outcomes’ Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Matt Jordon, explains how farmers can earn additional revenue from healthy soil.

Improving soil health drives crop and livestock performance, reduces the need for external inputs, cuts costs and grows profits.

This is not to mention a host of other benefits such as greater water infiltration and retention, improved nutrient cycling and resilience to weather extremes.

In addition, it also creates the opportunity for farmers to generate income by selling soil carbon credits.

Outwintering cattle can have major benefits for farm finances, livestock health, time management and soil productivity.

This includes a significant reduction in supplementary feed and straw and associated machinery costs.

However, as 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year Stuart Johnson from our mentoring team writes, farmers must ‘earn the right’ to enjoy full value from the practice.

“Although outwintering can save money in the short term, these savings can be wiped out if the ground is damaged.

“Anyone can outwinter feeding silage and sacrificing fields, the art is doing it in a way that doesn’t necessitate copious amounts of fodder making, along with all the time and costs associated with repairing and reseeding fields.”

With hot, dry conditions hitting much of the UK this spring and summer, we invited Dr Allen Williams to join Grounded: The regenerative farming podcast to discuss how healthy soil can build resilience to drought.

Allen, who leads our mentoring team alongside Gabe Brown, is one of the most well-known figures in the world of regenerative farming.

He says through thoughtful use of adaptive grazing and observing the principles of soil health, farms can not only survive periods of drought but thrive.

“You've got to pre-plan and assume dry and droughty conditions are coming,” says Allen.

“If you're caught unprepared in the middle of a drought you have far fewer options and choices.”